Stress Management

With a diploma as a Stress Management Consultant (SMC), I consider myself
to be a specialist in this area and can offer individual or group sessions to suit any
potential client.

Stress affects most people at some point in their lives!

What is Stress?

Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demands
placed on them. There is a clear distinction between pressure, which can create a 'buzz'
and be a motivating factor, and stress which can occur when this pressure becomes excessive.

Did you know that in 2009 the cost to the UK economy due to stress was £3.8 billion! [That's
just based on stress related sickness signed off with a doctor's note!] The true cost to the
UK economy would probably be at least double this and that would be a conservative estimate!

There are many symptoms of stress in the workplace such as poor time keeping, vagueness,
people who are suddenly no longer a team player but to name just a few.

There are many advantages to reducing stress in the workplace:.

A much happier workforce, when people are happy they enjoy work and are generally much more productive.

This in turn reduces sickness time or sickies [saving the company huge amounts of revenue and
improving profitability through reduced absence costs] this in turn can lead to increased staff
loyalty and lower recruitment costs!

Relaxing after a hard day's work! Does it really matter?

You had a productive yet challenging and sometimes stressful day at the office. Then the journey home
only serves to heighten your stress levels once again as you battle through traffic to make it home.
Now is the time to let go and put your mind at ease, recharge your battery, and refresh your energy
levels so that you're ready to do it all again tomorrow!

You arrive home, the house is a mess, the kids are playing up, and your other half tells you it's
your turn to cook dinner! (Yes apparently it's your turn and the thought of going out to
battle the traffic again! Well let's not go there shall we!)

Maybe things at home are relatively peaceful and calm, but your mind is anything but as it just
cannot switch off the day's events, which just keep mulling over in your mind. Then your mind
switches to tomorrows challenges and the stress levels are up once again. At a time when you
should be relaxing, taking it easy and recharging your batteries for the day ahead tomorrow,
you suddenly find this time has been taken over by thoughts of work. It will be time to go back
to work before you know it!

If either of the scenarios above is your evening after work, or weekend, then you need to put a
little more effort in allowing yourself to relax. You need to take a well earned break after a
long day/week at the office.

Learning to relax is a skill that can be mastered with practise! It allows you to be more focused,
energetic and helps you keep things in perspective. In short the ability to relax and recharge
away from work is as important as going to work itself!

Stress Awareness Day

I run a very successful one day Stress Awareness course in the Wakefield area, West Yorkshire, for
companies that can help reduce stress in the workplace, therefore providing the company with a
much happier, much more productive workforce, which should give you a reduced level of absence.

The course is designed for all levels of employees, but particularly middle and senior management.
Did you know that 83% of managers suffer stress in the workplace every week! That is a staggering
figure!

This course is designed to help people become more aware of stress and how it can affect you;
it also gives people new tools that allow them to deal with stress in a much more relaxed and
productive manner. It enables people to recognise the early onset of stress and what they can do
about it. There are lots of positive ways to manage stress!

The course in brief covers:

Definitions of stress

How to recognise the early signs of stress

How to tell the difference between good and bad stress [there is such a thing as good stress!]

How to use relaxation techniques to deal with stressful situations

How the emotional side of stress affects people

How to maximise the use of your time

A stress test for delegates to complete that identifies just how stressed they really are!

Motivation

Assertiveness

A ten step guide for coping with stress

By the end of the course you will have:

A clearer understanding of stress and the importance of managing it, which will allow you to
analyse the pressures and challenges in your life, which in turns helps you to plan effectively
to eliminate them. You should also understand how to use a range of different techniques
that allow the effective management of stress at work.

You should be able to identify any underlying cause of stress and deal with it effectively.

It's important to run the one day courses off site at a local hotel or other suitable venue, so
that people are away from the work environment and can relax!

Start time is usually 9.30am and finish time around 4.30pm

Think of the benefits of the course, a more productive workforce, higher revenue, reduced absence,
a happier workforce, greater staff loyalty, less recruitment costs and less litigation costs.
In my opinion the course is invaluable and almost pays for itself!

It's a small price to pay for benefits above and remember as an employer, you have a responsibility
Under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974. Employers have a general duty, so far as it is reasonably
practical, to protect the health (including the mental health) of their employees health. This
includes taking steps to ensure that employees do not suffer stress related illness as a result of
their work.

Similarly, under the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 employees have a
duty to assess the risks to health & Safety, apply the principles of prevention to health and
safety, ensure employees are capable of carrying out their tasks and provide health & safety
training and take extra steps to protect young people.